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Monday, June 30, 2014

Ahh Monday. I'm not ready for you but here you are again. On the bright side, this is a short work week and my sister in law is coming TOMORROW. Enjoy this mini me look and have a wonderful day, Mamas!

Friday, June 27, 2014

I'm loving the boat shoes and nautical striped shirt on Bruno Mars in this photo for GQ. Let's be honest, he would probably look amazing in any outfit but this one translates into a effortlessly stylish mini me look that is perfect for summer.

For those who follow me on Instagram (sdmama33), you know I've been following the Kayla Itsines B i k i n i Body Guide for the last 3 weeks. The BBG is a great workout program that is perfect for me because of the following reasons.

1. All the workouts are 28 mins long and I only have time to workout during my lunch break.

2. It does not involve going to a gym. I workout at a park by my office and use whatever is available.

3. It makes you SWEAT

4. The nutrition plan focuses on healthy eating but is flexible which is important for a diabetic like me.

Three weeks in and I am still really enjoying it. I already feel myself getting stronger. As a reward Tuan surprised me with a new pair of Nike Lunarglide 6 shoes yesterday. Well done, Husband! I love them and can't wait to try them out today during my LISS run. Thanks babe!

Monday, June 23, 2014

This weekend was full of fun times but none of them matter because Parker now has a terrible haircut and we have to figure out a way to fix it. Ugh. It's so bad you guys. It started innocently enough. Tuan's hair person offered to trim Parker's hair after Tuan's haircut. He sat in Tuan's lap and she started trimming and he did fine until the clippers came out and scared him. Once he started wiggling it was all downhill from there. Now my poor kid has a crazyyyy cut that is uneven on the sides and straight across in the front. Does anyone have any advice on how we should proceed? Should we shave it? Can we fix it? Oh boy. I'm leaning towards cutting it super short so it can grow out evenly. The lesson here is pretty clear. Never accept free haircuts. Help!!

Our friends and family have been getting a pretty good laugh out of this one. Comments so far include.

From Brandon, "What are you gonna do? He has an image to maintain, his internet presence is at stake."

Thursday, June 19, 2014

After much preparation and worry, we have survived Parker's first swim class! The class was held at the private residence of Miss K who generously volunteers her time to teaching kids how to swim. Parker clung to me so tightly I had to pry him off my body but he was able to "swim" once I let him go. It's incredible that he instinctively knew to reach for the edge and for my hands under the water. As Kim promised, there were plenty of tears. We were a little late so his cute swim trunks didn't make it on. The more I think about it, the more I want to just get these. So much more comfy. Hopefully the next lesson will go over a little easier.

Things I need to do
1. Buy another swim diaper just in case he has an accident

2. Get control of my hair

Side note, at dinner Parker saw some flowers and said "BONG" (flower in Vietnamese). This kid will never stop surprising me with how much he knows.

[Reeeaacch. At one point he was crying so loud both the dogs came over to check on him.]

[The anxiety on his face is classic]

[At the end of the lesson Kim had him swim to the top step. He was able to reach for it and push his body out of the water.]

[A proud mama and teacher!]

[Crying because he was cold once we took him out of the water. Pineapple hooded towel from CottonOn Kids.]

Monday, June 16, 2014

Over the past few months I have been secretly compiling a list of items that Tuan has expressed wanting but hasn't purchased for himself because I did not want Father's Day to come around and be stuck with not knowing what to buy. Tuan is what you call particular and he knows what he likes and what he doesn't like. I'm patting myself on the back for planning ahead and putting together a gift that he was excited to receive. Woo hoo! Most of the items were ordered online but I did manage to pull together one DIY project inspired by this awesome tutorial on Apartment Therapy. Seriously? So awesome and perfect for my Lego loving husband.

Want to see more of our Father's Day shenanigans? Follow me on Instagram @sdmama33

-Lego minifigs that resemble each family member. I was able to find all my pieces at the Lego store but you can also buy them online. The only hiccup I ran into was that the store didn't carry any dark hair pieces so I had to buy the right hairstyles and paint them using Testors acrylic paint. The minifig forums clearly say to use acrylic paints and not enamel paints. You learn something new everyday.

-Put your minifigs together. You'll notice that Tuan's figurine is holding a camera. There are a bunch of accessories you can order online to personalize your minifigs. I'm lucky I was able to find a womans shirt for my body. I was thisclose to being dressed like a Renaissance lady or scuba diver.

-Print your family name onto the cardstock. I picked a tall font with clean lines to match the frame.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Summer is officially here. We are noshing on strawberries and going to the park at 7 PM. You know what that means? Suns out guns out. You. Are. Welcome. Here's a fun and comfy look that's perfect for a cool kid play date.

PS It was nearly impossible to find a aztec print toddler tank. Don't they know that boys can wear things that don't have stripes on them? Sames goes for the baby boy espadrilles. Sheesh.

UPDATE:

I just stumbled upon the StrawberryMoth shop on etsy and she sells these great geo print tanks for kids. Here other stuff is pretty great too.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Hooray for free passes to the New Children's Museum courtesy of the San Diego Public Library. The last time we visited the museum, Parker was barely 2 mos old and slept through the whole experience. It's hard to believe that little peanut has grown into such a social and curious little toddler. The NCM is a great place for little ones to run around, explore, get dirty and make friends. We were able to find a meter spot across the street and paid $1/hr for parking.

[Throwback photo of Parker from our first visit. Awww he looks so peaceful.]

[Parker and Kaden playing in the Orange We installation. Every time they moved the oranges, a new sound played from a speakers overhead.]

[Delivering food and twerking on Kaden in the Food Truckin' installation.]

[Parker loved the bubble table. He has a great time splashing and grabbing at the bubbles. We had to do an outfit change after this one. It was a mess!]

[Wobbleland is an area for kids 4 and under filled with food sculptures. The boys loved sitting in the orange.]

[And crawling through a giant slice of cheese]

[Tuan rockin out (and looking like Justin Bieber) in the Sound Kitchen]

[Banging on some can drums]

For $80 you can buy a family membership to NCM. That is such a steal and would make an amazing gift.

Follow me on instagram @sdmama33 to see more photos of our adventures!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Happy Friday! Ahh the weekend is almost upon us. There is a lot going on this weekend in and around San Diego so make sure you check out the Red Tricycle events calendar to get all the details on the San Diego County Fair, Touch a Truck, Art Around Adams and more. I finally managed to make it to the top of the waitlist for the San Diego Libary's museum pass program so we will be using our free passes to visit the New Children's Museum.

Moving on to more pressing matters. We are dealing with a bit of a boob problem right now. Parker feels compelled to touch my boobs (or reach his hand into anyone's shirt) when he is hungry. At first it was just when he wanted a bottle but now he also wants to touch my boobs while he is eating his meals. The amount of boob touching he feels compelled to do in order to finish a meal varies but there is always some boob touching that occurs. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing or if my son is a mega boob lover but he makes it very clear when he is hungry or wants to nurse by telling us "buuuu" (nurse in Vietnamese) or "Mum mum" followed by trying to reach into our shirts. Hopefully this phase passes soon. It's kind of embarrassing in public. Has anyone dealt with this problem before? I'd love some advice. He gets really upset when he can't touch my boobs.

I also want to add that Parker totally hates brushing his teeth now. It's become a battle every time so I have stopped trying to brush his teeth with a big boy toothbrush and gone back to the finger brush. Sorry Dr. H, I tried and I failed. Maybe we can try again in a couple of months when he has forgotten how traumatic the first introduction of the big boy toothbrush was.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

I'm going to keep the word count low on this post since this is part 3 of my Disney Parks with a Toddler series. You can read part one and two by clicking on the links.

Last week I went on my first long work trip coordinating two fun product launch parties in Los Angeles and San Francisco. After a week of traveling and working 12+ hour days, I took the first flight home and Tuan, Parker and I drove straight to Anaheim to use up the last day on our passes. I have to say that they SoCal 3 day/3 park special Disney offered was a great investment and I really enjoyed all the time we spent at the parks. It felt like a mad dash to fit in the last day before June 6 but we did it! I guess the best part of not being able to do everything in the park in one day is that there was always a brand new experience in store for Parker on our subsequent trips.

[Parker's first time on the Little Mermaid Ride was very exciting. Short, fast moving lines, fish, bubbles and ducks. Those are all of his favorite things.]

[Tuan picked up the same Mickey shirt Parker has on our last trip. This time around they were shirt twins and Parker kept poking the Mickey on daddy's shirt.]

[Our first time watching the Aladdin show. It was great! Parker freaked out when he saw the giant cave head though.]

[The Aladdin show is 45 minutes long. Apparently that is too long for Parker because he fell asleep during the show.]

[I broke all the rules and ate this glorious carb overload pretzel with Tuan. At least we shared it!]

[The Play Parade was a big hit. I had no idea the floats shot water at the crowd. No one seemed to mind though since it was a warm day.]

[Balling his fists in excitement. He danced the whole time.]

[We left the park and went back to our hotel after the parade because we could not handle the millions of high school kids who were there for Grad Night.]

We decided to have dinner outside of the park and went to Umami Burger located in the Anaheim Packing District. This was our first time visiting and I was a little skeptical since one of the Yelp reviews I read said the place was not kid friendly. Whoever wrote that review could not have been more wrong. We were seated promptly, our waitress brought over a high chair, coloring page and crayons for Parker and we had our food in 10 minutes.

We are definitely going back to experience the Packing District in its entirety. It's too bad we were there the day before the grand opening and did not have a chance to taste the offerings of all the other vendors.

[Truffle fries]

[Tuan's "manly burger"]

[After dinner we went to Joe's Italian Ice for dessert. The nice employee gave Parker a free mini cone of soft serve and he loved it. He loved it so much he ate the entire thing, cone and all. It was a hot mess.]

[Tuan's mango tango and my bada bing cherry]

[Enjoying the fireworks in our pajamas from our room. Parker kept saying "OOOhhh". It was so cute.]

[Can you spot the hidden Mickey?]

[Unlike last time, we came prepared for pool time on this trip.]

[Bundled up like a burrito. I think he's still on the fence about whether or not he likes swimming. Hopefully that changes once we start swim lessons later this month.]